


Miraculously Mysterious Misadventures of Marimews

by ZiriO



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cat tendencies, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Kwami Swap, Marimews, cat instincts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 03:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19242769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZiriO/pseuds/ZiriO
Summary: The Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous are balance in all things; Creation and Destruction may be opposing forces, yet each holds a spark of the other. Destruction fuels creation and all creation must eventually decay, a perfectly balanced, unbroken cycle. To understand this balance so that they might grow, it is ancient tradition that the Ladybug and Black Cats trade their Miraculous to grow more in tune with themselves and one another. So, with Tikki's encouragement and to Plagg's supreme indifference, Marinette trades her trusty spots for cat ears, confident that she'll master this exercise in no time.After all, how hard can being a Black Cat be?





	Miraculously Mysterious Misadventures of Marimews

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lalunaunita](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalunaunita/gifts).



> Greetings, starshines! Once again it is I, ZiriO, back on my shenanigans once again while bringing you even more hijinks with our beloved dynamic duo! This time I bring gifts for LaLunaUnita, who is a fantastic person and deserves your kudos so go forth and give her some love! I also would love to give Lilafly, Tempomental, and Bluetreeleaves so much love for giving this a read and offering help, and to MiniMinou for whipping it into shape and helping me when I got horribly stuck for ideas. A shining set of diamonds of humanity, I tell you.
> 
> But what's this? An Actual Kwami-Swap instead of an AU? _Whatever could this be?_
> 
> So sit back, fasten your seatbelts, and please enjoy as Adrien learns how to wear his spots! Will Marinette be as good a Chat Noir as our dashing hero? Will Adrien end up tangled up trying to live up to his Lady fair's legacy? Will Plagg get tired of these kids being absolute dorks about how much they like each other? Tune in next time to find out!

Adrien barely made it off the rooftops in time, sweat making his bangs cling to his forehead in a way that had nothing to do with the encroaching summer heat as he dashed down another side alley, taking a moment to brace his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. The akuma battle had gone more than a little sideways; he still wasn’t used to using the bandalore yet, much less the split-second calculations that using the Lucky Charm had required. In fact, he was fairly certain he hadn’t been able to get it off in time, and it hadn’t helped that he’d somehow lost track of his lady in all the chaos. She’d lost control of her Cataclysm and gone tumbling over the side of a building, and he’d been so caught up in Clawstrophobia’s attacks that he hadn’t been able to save her. How his lady managed to make it look so _easy_ juggling Lucky Charms, saving him, _and_ being amazing after all this time baffled him now that he was the one wearing the spots. It was a daunting suit to fill, and his Lady’s insecurities made a bit more sense now that they were also his own. The sting of failure was burning more than ever, but Tikki had been doing her best to reassure him ever since he’d been given the earrings.

“It’ll be alright, Adrien. You did your best! You’re learning more every day. This is a good thing, it means the lessons towards fully mastering the Miraculous are working!” Tikki’s voice was soothing, her tiny paws stroking the hand that clutched his satchel strap in a white knuckled grip. He could only give her a wobbly smile, shaking his head.

“Thanks, Tikki, I’m just worried is all, and—” a plaintive mew near his ankles drew him up short, and he looked down to meet the most heartbreakingly blue eyes he’d ever seen. “Hmm?”

Crouching down, he got a good look at the kitten that had nearly blundered into his ankle, who seemed just out of its wobbly, straight-tailed stage, crying as it stumbled towards him. The sharp pain in his chest was instant as he caught the kitten in his hands, suddenly overwhelmed by the cuteness of the kitten’s mud-smeared paws and face. From the crisp, pink ribbon around the kitten’s neck, it looked as if it was an indoor only kitten, and from the way the kitten was trembling at his touch, it was terrified.

“Shhhh, shh, I’ve got you. I’ve got you.” The words came out in a low, soft croon as he let the kitten climb into his waiting hands, trying his best not to frighten it. He was honestly surprised that the kitten didn’t sink its claws into his hand as he lifted it off the ground, trying to soothe it by gently petting it, murmuring to the kitten with a soft voice as he held it to his chest.

“Adrien, you know you can’t skip class just because of a kitten— _oh!_ " Tikki’s teasing tone turned shocked as her eyes went wide, her tiny paws clapped over her mouth as her gaze met the kitten’s. “Oh no, Adrien! That’s not a kitten!”

“What?” His eyes went wide in alarm, his adrenaline-fueled mind assuming it to be another akuma for a delirious moment as he glanced down at Tikki, who still looked horrified. Which hardly was reassuring in that heart-pounding instant.

“That’s a person, Adrien! You’ve got to bring her with us!” She was tugging beseechingly at his overshirt now even as he had to lift the kitten higher so it wouldn’t spill out of his grip in its attempts to swat at the kwami. Adrien somehow managed a smile, though worry was starting to color his features even as relief flooded his veins. Had being a superhero ever been more exhausting? _Pawsibly._

No, wait, now was not the time for cat-puns, his brain told him. Funny how it almost sounded like his lady chiding him.

“Well, sure! I mean…” The tiny god’s words sank in, and he looked down at the kitten in his hands. “Oh, no...I didn’t use the charm right, did I?” The fight had been such a tangled mess with him trying to sort out his new powers, he hadn’t had enough time to see what the akuma’s attacks had done to people. So he held the kitten closer, murmuring gently to her to reassure both the kitten and himself that everything would be fine as he made his way across the street to the school.

“I don’t think this has anything to do with the akuma or your charm, but we’ve got to keep an eye on her anyway. We might need to visit Master Fu to see if we can fix this.” Tikki pressed her paws to her mouth, her brow furrowing with concern. Adrien could only offer her a nervous smile while his heart seemed to pound in his ears.

The kitten was a person. A person who had seen him with his kwami. His lady was going to _kill him_ when she found out!

The sudden lurch of nerves that struck him couldn’t possibly be good for his heart. Grasping for Tikki, he lifted her up to talk.

“Tikki, Ladybug’s going to murder me when she hears about this.” He grimaced, but Tikki only shook her head, her antennae twitching.

“No, no! I think she won’t mind just this once, but right now we’ve got more pressing matters. We need to take her somewhere safe and see if we can’t solve what happened.” Tikki’s big eyes were glossy with anxiety, and when she furrowed her brows like that and pressed her little paws together while she settled on the back of his hand, Adrien found it impossible to say no to the tiny goddess. Taking a deep breath, he sighed, letting the tension bleed from his shoulders as he huffed a soft laugh.

“Alright, but I’m going to pray your good word gives me diplomatic immunity from my Lady’s wrath. Got it?” He offered Tikki his pinkie finger with a wry smile, and she let out one of her adorable little giggles as she took it with both paws and shook.

“Deal! I’m sure I’ll be able to convince her not to be upset this time, since it couldn’t be helped.” With that she settled comfortably in the collar of his shirt, tucked tight to his throat, a reassuring warmth that hummed happily. So focused on the kwami and threats of Ladybug’s possible reactions to a civilian discovering his identity, the look the kitten in his hands shot Tikki went entirely unnoticed.

“So, I take it this means skipping class and blaming it on the akuma might _not_ be so bad this one time?” His brows arched, his smile turning sly, and the hum turned into a chiding buzz.

“Just don’t make a habit of it! You already have a spotty record thanks to the akuma attacks, and you want to make sure your father doesn’t pull you from school. I know it’s hard, but we can’t be sloppy for your sake.” Tikki huffed, though she still rose to meet his fingers when he stroked her spotted forehead.

“I know, but you’re right, this does seem like an emergency. And you’re _sure_ it’s not because of my Lucky Charm or the akuma?” Adrien’s mouth twisted in worry, glancing down at the flash of red he could see at the edge of his vision.

“Mmmm, I know for certain it’s not because of the charm or the akuma, but I’m not _quite_ sure what caused it. Master Fu would probably know, but we’ll need to be really careful. I think Papillion is starting to suspect there’s a guardian nearby, and if you get caught at that side of town when you should be in school, it will be a huge problem. We don’t want you to get grounded.” Her hum grew to a thoughtful buzz once more, one paw patting her chin as she thought. “We’ll have to see if we can sneak over there later after your photoshoot. You do have one scheduled for this afternoon, and your bodyguard won’t mind if you get all your school work done early, right?”

“I think so…” He rubbed his chin, scowling softly before a plaintive mew drew his attention back to the soft bundle in his hand. “Ah! Sorry, let’s go get you cleaned up really quick. You look like you’ve had a really rough day.” Warmth filled him when the kitten mewed back, tiny paws pressing against his chest as it rose up to buff its face against the stripes on his shirt.

“Yeah, looks like we both need a break from the craziness, huh?” He grinned, the smile only growing wider at the soft chirrups he got in response. At least rubbing her behind the ears seemed to soothe the kitten’s shivers a little, but he didn’t want her to get sick while she was trapped in this form. A thought wormed its way into his head and he almost froze mid-step.

“Tikki, what am I going to tell father when I get caught bringing home a cat?” He gave her a wide-eyed look, and the tiny goddess stared back.

“Well, I never said we had to tell him, did I?” The wide-eyed almost innocent look was totally at odds with the words coming out of her mouth, and the dissonance was incredibly jarring.

“ _Tikki!_ ” Adrien gasped in surprise. He was used to the rebellious behaviour from Plagg, but not from Tikki! Normally she was the voice of reason, the one encouraging him to be on his best behaviour and play by the rules instead of weaseling her way around them like her balance did.

“You aren’t keeping her, Adrien! Just protecting her until we can turn her back. She’s not going to stay like this forever, you know. But we are going to need to make sure she’s not going to go hungry.” Her face scrunched in thought, and Adrien hummed softly.

“Well, I’m sure I can just ask my chef for more fish or something? I’ll see if I can’t find something that won’t make her sick while she’s like this.” Glancing down at the kitten again, he couldn’t help but smile at the pale freckles on her nose. “How’s that sound?” The kitten chirruped, her ears twitching toward him before she glanced to the mouth of the alley, huddling closer to him. He steadied her as he felt the faintest prick of her claws through his shirt.

“I know, it’s going to be rough, but I’ve got you. After all, what kind of hero would I be if I didn’t save a fair maiden in distress?” So caught up in planning what to do next, he missed the way the kitten seemed to roll her eyes, shaking her head as she hunkered lower in his arms, purring noisily as she allowed herself to bask in his warmth.

* * *

Well, the day certainly could have been worse. Though Marinette was struggling to figure out _how_. 

Panic attacks were an entirely different beast when she found herself weighing less than five pounds and staring up at the world around her from ankle-height. Plagg wasn’t _so_ bad, a little unhelpful compared to Tikki. She’d finally managed to weasle the information she needed on how to be a proper Chat Noir out of him with bribery and flattery. After all, if she messed this up then they’d _never_ be able to defeat Papillion, and if that happened then she’d never be able to forgive herself. _Chat Noir_ would be disappointed in her, and it was enough to keep her up all night the first day she’d put the ring on. 

In order to truly master the power of creation, she also needed to know how to wield its counterpart.

Unfortunately she’d thought she knew what she was getting herself into after Plagg’s little run-down and all her time working with Chat. 

Boy, had she been in for a rude awakening.

Actually _being_ Chat Noir was something entirely different than everything she’d thought it would be, and the shock of feeling Cataclysm crawling up her arm had nearly scared her out of her skin when she’d first needed to summon it. 

Lucky Charm and the Miraculous Cure were warm and soothing, like the fluttery feeling in her stomach whenever she looked at Adrien. Like blankets fresh out of the dryer. Sunlight on a spring morning when everything is just right and all you want to do is nap on the balcony instead of study for a physics test that you have the next morning.

Cataclysm was nothing at _all_ like that. It was like lightning beneath her skin, hot like bubbling tar and yet it left a hollow feeling in its wake. It sizzled along her nerves and scorched her, crackling along her fingertips with an insidious menace that left her having horrible flashbacks to claws mere centimeters from her eye and hearing it sizzle near her ear. Not to mention how _loud_ everything was, smells and sounds and everything felt like too much all at once and she had no idea how she’d managed to keep it together during the fight when she’d felt the anxiety building just under her skin, crawling up her spine and racing along her limbs. Her heart had been thundering against her ribs long before she’d ever set her sights on the akuma and she could hear a voice like Chat’s coaxing her to breathe, to relax, to let the cat free and enjoy the moment.

But that was like rubbing her fur the wrong way. How could she just let go of everything when there was an _akuma?_ This wasn’t the time to play games or fool around or _live in the moment_ , she had a job to do and she was _so sure_ she was going to hit _Chat_ or _herself_ or some poor civilian who wasn’t protected by an indestructible super suit or heaven forbid she accidentally destroyed a building and _killed people_ and she was almost on the verge of tears with fright at all the worst case scenarios that flooded her head and left her too slow to avoid the attack that bowled her over the edge of the roof to tumble yowling into the alley below.

Something screamed inside her not to tense, to twist just so, to _RELAX_ but the ground was racing towards her and she forgot how to use the baton and then suddenly she was blinded by tears and the world whipped around her in an impossible flash of green as everything warped.

To be fair, she _did_ land on her feet.

Tiny, furry, white feet with pink and black paw pads or she _assumed_ they were pink and black because everything was huge and loud and the wrong color and her heart was _pounding_ and when she screamed it came out like a high-pitched yowl that echoed across the alley and immediately made her regret the noise she made. It hurt her ears and she curled tight into a ball, trembling from shock and not knowing what had happened. A rush of fluttering wings as she heard her partner call out for the cure, and she expected to be normal in a flash.

Not for him to drop down and turn into _Adrien_ right in front of her.

If she hadn’t already been in the middle of a Marinette Meltdown then this certainly would have sent her over the edge. Maybe she was crazy? Maybe she was seeing things? But there he was, talking to _Tikki_ about how worried he was that he was doing a poor job as Ladybug and her heart was either going to burst from the shock or from how her sweet Chat being absolutely convinced that he was a terrible Ladybug when here she was tangling up in her own feet and bungling everything she did as per usual. She wanted to take his face in both hands and yell at him about how wrong he was, about how she couldn’t do this job without him, about how he was the one who gave her the strength to keep putting on the suit. She wanted to slap some sense into him but all she could do was trip over her paws and cry and it made her want to scream.

And then he had to pick her up and _Adrien Agreste was holding her_ and _petting her_ and she had no idea what to do with this. This was not how she wanted to learn who Chat was. This was the exact opposite of a whole lot of mental scenarios and yet he ran his hand over her head and it was like he’d hit the reset button on her racing thoughts.

A strange bubbly sensation filled her, and she butted her face against that warmth of his hand for more. She _needed_ more. Everything was too much and too loud and yet he was holding her against his chest and cradling her so she felt safe. The bubbling sensation built and built until it spilled out of her and her own purring startled her.

This was so much weirder than she’d been prepared to handle today, and that was before she found that Tikki’s twitching antennae kept making her want to slap them every time she saw them flick across the edge of her vision. Maybe if she just hid in Adrien’s collar she could will herself to wake up and it would all turn out to be a horrible joke or a bad dream caused by her curiosity getting the best of her when she’d tried that Camembert cheese Plagg loved so much.

If she could only be so lucky.

* * *

“Caterina?” Adrien beamed, watching the kitten bat at Tikki as he went through a list he’d started on his tablet. “Mewlinda?” That at least got her attention, and the kitten glared at him, so he tried not to laugh as he scratched it out.

“I’ll take that as a no.” 

He chuckled, letting out a thoughtful hum. Something about caring for the kitten—girl? Young lady? Tikki hadn’t been specific and pronouns were nebulous social constructs anyway—while not knowing what to call her rubbed him the wrong way. He couldn’t just call her _kitten_ or _it_ , so he had decided to come up with one or try and find out what her name was by guesswork. 

It had seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea while he was busy drying her fur after an impromptu bath to wash off the alley muck, and she’d seemed much happier once she was clean. He couldn’t blame her, he’d been dipped in the Seine often enough to hate the way the filth clings even to his super suit, and it had to have been worse now that she had fur and the only real option to wash herself was to use her mouth. He couldn’t imagine how much that bothered her.

“Miaoria?” He cocked his head, and the kitten let out the _biggest_ sigh and threw herself down in protest. Or at least it certainly seemed like it, and he rapped his stylus against his chin before he sat up straight. “That’s it! Bridgette! You look like a Bridgette to me, would that please you until we can return the fair maiden to her rightful form?” He beamed, and the kitten glanced at him before hiding her face in her paws. He wasn’t sure if she was simply grooming, was embarrassed, or was finally tired of his shenanigans. At least she wasn’t swatting at him like she had been when he’d started with names of his favorite anime girls, though in hindsight he supposed he’d deserved that.

“Adrien, you _can’t keep her._ ” Tikki sighed, cuddling with the kitten now that she’d stopped trying to take swipes at the kwami’s antennae. “Just remember, she’s a human girl, and you’re going to have to send her home once we figure out how to turn her back.”

“I know, I just…” He sighed, rubbing his face and feeling the weight of the week sapping his energy and leaving him feeling heavy and exhausted. “I just feel like this is somehow my fault. I don’t want to treat her like an animal, and giving her a—a _nickname_ at the very least until we can turn her back is the best I can think of right now. Do you at least like this one?” He leaned in, almost watching the kitten beseechingly and hoping for approval. The heart-wrenchingly soft chirrup as she lifted her head to buff against his face nearly had him melting as he cradled her close, soaking in her warmth and softness, the way she rumbled with a tiny purr and her sides heaved as she huffed against him.

It was in that instant that he knew he was going to be in so much trouble when they found a way to turn the young lady back. He was going to find a way to beg his father to let him have a cat. Giving the kitten when he hoped was a gentle smile (rather than the disgustingly besotted look he suspected it was), he ran a thumb over the freckled bridge of her nose and rubbed her ears.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ for now, Bridgette.” He chuckled, hugging the kitten close and feeling his heart catch in his throat as she climbed up his shoulder, somehow managing to wedge herself between the collar of his overshirt and his black t-shirt, her soft fur leaving him teary-eyed with laughter as it tickled him mercilessly.


End file.
